Racing to Remake BlackBerry

By

Dan Gallagher

Updated Dec. 20, 2013 6:26 p.m. ET

BlackBerry chief John Chen is playing the long game. But his company's rapidly diminishing services business doesn't give him much time.

Less than two months on the job, Mr. Chen has wisely accelerated BlackBerry's exit from the cash-burning hardware side. He has just completed a partnership with Chinese manufacturer Foxconn to effectively take over much of the design, building and inventory of BlackBerry smartphones. BlackBerry's...